Paul Nash was 25 at the outbreak of the First World War. He had been a member of that remarkable pre-war cohort at the Slade School of Art that included Christopher Nevinson, Stanley Spencer, William Roberts, Ben Nicholson and Edward Wadsworth. Nash had already gained a reputation as a painter of nocturnes and visionary landscapes when he reluctantly volunteered in September 1914, first joining the London Regiment (Artists’ Rifles) for home service only. But in February 1917, having completed officer training, he embarked for France, arriving in the Ypres Sector soon after.